Exploring the Knowledge, Understanding, and Preparedness to Teach Students with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) by Preservice Teachers in Ontario

Abstract

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) is one of the most prevalent exceptionalities in Canadian classrooms, and one of the most challenging for teachers to support. Children affected by FASD exhibit a range of symptoms and various degrees of impairment, requiring multi-faceted supports. In teacher education programs, preservice teachers receive training through a combination of coursework and placements. Although courses offered to preservice teachers reflecting special education may be compulsory, explicit instruction on specific exceptionalities is limited. As studies have been completed in the past on teacher knowledge to support students with exceptionalities, there is a lack of research completed in Ontario reflecting how teachers are prepared to support students with FASD. If teachers are not prepared to teach students with FASD within the classroom, children with FASD may not receive the support they require. The objective of this study was to examine preservice teachers’ knowledge and understanding of FASD and their preparedness to teach these students. Both quantitative and qualitative data was collected through a 52-item online questionnaire to examine experiences supporting exceptionalities and FASD, knowledge of the condition, Teacher Sense of Efficacy (TSES), and preparedness to support students with FASD. Participants of this study (N = 80) were preservice teachers at a teacher education program accredited by the Ontario College of Teachers (OCT). It was observed that preservice teachers felt that they were not adequately trained to support students with FASD, and they did not discuss FASD as a topic of interest within their preservice teacher education programs. Experiences with exceptionalities was variable, and specific knowledge of needs of students with FASD was limited. Correlational analyses indicated that preservice teachers had low confidence of knowledge which was attributed to lack of awareness of the condition, lack of experiences supporting students with FASD, and lack of discussion of FASD and challenges faced by students with the condition. These findings suggest that FASD is a topic that should be further emphasized in preservice teacher education programs and challenges faced by students with the condition and strategies to support them must be discussed.